Smash Into You
by Pandora147
Summary: "I'm soaked in your love; love is right in my path, in my grasp; me and you belong." HSM3 canon, college fic, snapshots of important and not so important moments in time. TxG.
1. Freshman

**TITLE**: Smash Into You

**AN: **Yes, another fic. Expect it to be short, like, six chapters long? I'm backpacking at the moment - posting this while waiting for a night bus from Warsaw, Poland to Vilnius, Lithuania - so therefore, updates happen when they happen. Follow my travel blog at wwwdotlightsallfadeddotcom and/or via the twitter handle lightsallfaded if you're interested in following my travels around Europe and the USA.

To clarify, I have no plans to discontinue or not finish The Simple Need or my Someday series. I appreciate the continued interest. If I was to choose to discontinue, I would update my profile accordingly, and likely add an AN chapter to the fic to let you know.

**DEDICATION**: To Michelle & Aaran, with love.

* * *

**1. Freshman**

Gabriella was a whiz with numbers. She had a photographic memory and a recall of dates and figures unlike anyone that Troy had ever met in his life. It had gotten to the point where Troy kept a diary, and would note down dates that might potentially possibly one day be of importance. He'd learned his lesson when he'd forgotten the three month anniversary of their first kiss – she didn't try to make him feel bad about it, but when she'd shown up at school with a token gift of a bag of Hershey's Kisses to commemorate, she'd succeeded in making him feel like a douche. Troy didn't like feeling like a douche.

Freshman year of college was hard on both of them. They were adjusting to new lives, new schedules, making new friends – and yet trying to make sure they still had time for one another. At the worst of times, two months passed without seeing one another, even though they were living just 32.7 miles apart, as Troy would remind her constantly. He'd had a string of away games and timing just hadn't worked for them. Finally, they were able to schedule time for one another, with Troy coming down to Stanford. Gabriella's roommate had plans to be out of town, so not only would Troy and Gabriella be together, but they would be alone.

When Troy arrived at Stanford University, a tear stained Gabriella opened her dorm door for him. It was obvious to him that she had been crying and that she was trying to cover it up.

"Babe!" he exclaimed, voice filled with concern. "What happened?"

"Nothing," she insisted, lower lip trembling, yet finding herself feeling the need to be surrounded by his loving arms, holding her close. They stood together in the still open doorway, just hugging, for over a minute. Finally, she pulled back, sniffling and wiping at her cheeks as she picked up the duffel bag he'd dropped at her feet, moving it over to the foot of her bed. He closed the door behind her.

"Why don't you just tell me now? Because we both know you'll tell me eventually, so let's just skip the prying."

Gabriella's lower lip jutted out childishly for a moment, which he found utterly adorable.

"It's embarrassing. And I'm scared you'll be mad."

"Maybe I'll surprise you."

She sighed, glancing down at her feet which were covered with red and white polka dotted socks.

"I got my period today," she finally admitted. "And... I was really upset with myself, and embarrassed that I was upset, and of course worried that you would be upset... and then about twenty minutes before you arrived I just burst into tears."

Troy stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Babe... fuck... for someone so smart, you can be so stupid sometimes."

Her eyes widened with surprise at his reaction.

"I mean, yeah it sucks – you and I both know I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been looking forward to... you know. But I'm not here for that! I'm here for _you."_

She felt another tear sliding down her cheek, which she hastily tried to wipe away before he saw it.

"No more tears! We can watch movies and eat popcorn and talk late into the night just like I know you love doing."

"Now I'm crying because I feel bad for doubting you," she said tearfully.

"I think you're partly crying because you get hormonal during your period," Troy chuckled.

She pouted. "I do not get hormonal!"

"Wouldn't you rather blame all this craziness on hormones than on ration?" he asked, making an excellent point. "Now. Do you wanna watch a movie? Dianna won't mind if we use her TV, will she?"

Gabriella shook her head. "She gave me explicit permission before she left this morning."

"Awesome. Now. How about you pick out a film, and I'll go run to the store and get some snacks?"

She nodded and Troy blitzed it to the campus store, literally running. He navigated his way around the junk food aisle with a basket, stocking up on comfort foods and threw in a box of chocolates. His eyes lit up when he saw a small card and gift wrap section, picking up a gaudy gold bow. The cashier was a guy about Troy's age, and he eyed the items as he packed them.

"Girlfriend mad at you?" he asked conversationally.

Troy laughed. "Girlfriend having a bad day."

"Cute. Well good luck."

Troy took a moment in the hallway before knocking on her dorm door to kneel down with his grocery bags, affixing the bow to the chocolate box. Satisfied with his handiwork, he knocked on the door. A moment later she appeared, looking slightly less tear stained than earlier.

"Hope you're hungry, because I bought out half the store," Troy announced.

"Looks like it," she laughed, glancing at the two bulging bags.

"I got ice-cream, I got chips, I got candy, I got crackers and cheese and dip..." he announced, as he unpacked the items onto the small table next to the small fridge/freezer combo which Gabriella and her roommate Dianna shared. "Oh, and, the best of all..." he pulled out the box of chocolates, presenting them to her with a grin. "Chocolate."

Her eyes went a little misty as she accepted the outstretched present.

"You are so amazing," she murmured, finger toying with the bow. "Did you know, this is the first time you've bought me a box of chocolates?"

"No! Impossible," he declared, his brain searching back, thinking over past events and anniversaries. He'd bought her heart candies for Valentine's Day, and he remembered presenting her with a wrapped up Baby Ruth bar one day, but he could not recall an occasion with a box of chocolates. "Maybe you're right."

She smiled broadly. "A milestone."

"Is this the type of day you'll remember in a year's time as being important?" Troy asked her.

She'd pondered, and nodded. "Possibly."

"Will you expect me to buy you chocolates on this day, every year, forever?"

"Maybe every six months," she considered with a cheeky smile.

"Don't push it," he warned with an equally cheeky smile.

* * *

It was nine months since they'd first made love. Nine months since the day they'd been entangled in one another on the bucket seat of his truck, as they took a break on the drive back to East High School after he'd whisked her away from Stanford to come back to East High for the Senior Year Musical. It had been a passionate nine months, with the distance serving to make things even more heated each time they met up and had the opportunity to see and touch and taste one another. During that time, they'd met up once in San Francisco, enjoying the solace of a private room in a dingy youth hostel. Most of the time, they'd visited each other in their college dorms and left ribbons and socks on the door handle.

More often than not, it was Troy who made the trek down south to visit Gabriella. She would insist that it was her turn to visit him, but he was chivalrous and more often than not, coming to Palo Alto allowed them more privacy. Gabriella's roommate had started dating a junior, who had lucked out and had a private room – so Gabriella could simply mention to Dianna that Troy was coming down for the night and Dianna would wink and make herself scarce.

One week before that special nine month anniversary, Dianna had a fight with her boyfriend, and the plans shifted around, with Gabriella making her way up north and across the bay to visit Troy. She loved visiting him – she loved seeing him interact with new friends, being a part of his new life. In particular, she loved watching her man play and there was a big home game on the Friday night. She blew off an afternoon tutorial – sending off an e-mail to her lecturer about a migraine – and headed up north to Berkeley.

Troy had made sure she had a good seat in the stands. He'd offered to organise for her to sit with some of the other players girlfriends but she declined. She was always careful to wear neutral colours, her own college loyalty not quite allowing her to deck out in Cal blue and gold. Usually she would wear red and white – truthfully she didn't care too much about the outcome of the game or how the rest of the team played, she was there just for her Wildcat. He wasn't on the starting line up, but he tended to get a decent amount of match time for a freshman rookie – there was no doubt that basketball was in Troy's heart, that he'd made the right decision to make sure it remained a part of his life.

After the game finished, she hung out where all of the other basketball groupies would wait – the girlfriends and friends and family and 'superfans' who wanted to catch a glimpse of the guys as they emerged from the locker rooms. She'd tend to twirl her T necklace around her finger somewhat nervously, feeling somewhat left out. She'd been introduced to some of the other girlfriends but they all went to school at Berkeley and she was completely left out of the loop, so she was content to wait to the side. It was worth it in the end. This trip, she'd missed seeing him before the game. They'd caught each other's eye during the game while he was sitting on the bench, a broad grin and a wink from him and a kiss blown down to him. But it didn't make up for the two weeks it had been since seeing each other. He came barrelling out of the gym, about a minute behind the rest of his team. Gabriella was feeling slightly worried but the look of elation on his face when he flew into her awaiting arms made it all worthwhile.

"I... missed... you... so... fucking... much," he gasped between kisses being showered on her lips.

"You did so well tonight Wildcat," she gushed. "Leading point scorer of all the non-starters, from both teams!"

He beamed. "That's why I was just behind the team – coach pulled me aside for a quick congratulations pep talk. He was impressed."

"That's so amazing."

"It was tight in the end though – so glad we pulled it over the line! I had my lucky charm with me," he said, giving her a wink and pulling her in for another kiss.

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

He glanced down at the duffel bag she had by her feet, and reached down to swoop it up. "Come on, let's get rid of this."

Hand in hand, they began the stroll in the direction of his dorm. "Do you mind if I quickly ring my dad?" Troy asked.

"Sure, of course! Go ahead," she encouraged him. Gabriella knew that Troy and his dad had emerged from their conflict at the end of senior year at East High with a really good relationship. Troy would call him over most games, to go through the highlights. Evidently Jack was expecting Troy's call and had picked up the phone nearly straight away.

"Hey old man," Troy greeted him. "You saw? Oh it was live... of course you Tivo'd it as well." Gabriella tuned out a little as Troy began to go over some of the detailed statistics, instead taking in their surroundings, people watching as other students walked around campus. She heard her name and tuned back in.

"Gabriella is here this weekend, she came for the game tonight..." Troy's eyes widened at his father's response and he glanced at Gabriella. "Dad! I... yes. Okay!" A few more moments and Troy's face softened into a smile. "Tell mom I said hi, okay? Talk to you soon, bye."

"What did he say?" Gabriella asked. "Just then, when you went all... high pitched and red faced?"

"He asked if we were being _safe_," Troy said, rolling his eyes.

Gabriella gasped, her own cheeks heating up. "Oh my God, seriously? How embarrassing!"

"I'm choosing to pretend that never happened," Troy said, with a slight shudder. They rounded the corner and arrived at Troy's dorm, and headed toward where Troy's room was on the third floor. It was co-ed building, but a male floor. When they were at the second floor, Gabriella gestured down the corridor. "I'm just going to use the bathroom."

"Do you want me to wait?"

"No no, I know the way," she said with a smile.

After using the facilities and freshening up slightly – it had been a long trip up and she felt a little gross from having been standing in close quarters in the stands – Gabriella headed up to Troy's dorm on the third floor. She loved his dorm room. Troy's freshman year roommate was an enigma of contradictions, a surfer who wanted to major in marine biology named Roger. He'd grown up with a vegetarian 'whole food' loving mother and according to Troy, was using his college years to rebel – they kept a supply of two minute noodles and mac and cheese and microwavable pizza. He was the guy who brought the beer bong to the dorm parties. The one piece of behaviour he'd brought from home was being immaculately clean. Other girls talked about how boys' dorms always had a distinctive smell. What Gabriella loved about Troy's freshman year dorm room was that it was all _him._ His deodorant, his body wash, his 'lucky' basketball socks. Roger's side would be perfectly organised and neat, no shirts sticking out of the drawers or boxers lying on the floor. The only boy odour in the room was Troy odour, an odour she didn't mind at all.

She knocked before turning the handle; he'd left it unlocked for her. It had hardly changed since she was there last – there was still an assorted pile of books on his desk, the same photo of all their friends from prom and Wildcat memorabilia. He had made a little effort, scooping up any items of clothing that were on the floor and tossing them into his laundry hamper. He'd taken the liberty of pouring her a drink, which he gestured to her – he'd bought a bottle of diet coke and put it into the fridge he and Roger shared in anticipation for her visit. He'd set her duffel bag with a couple of changes of clothes and her toiletries next to his bed, and he sat on the end waiting for her.

"I poured you a drink," he said, gesturing to the desk. "I think Roger has some vodka if you'd like me to add some, it's up to you." They had talked about stopping by one of the parties that night – it wasn't really Gabriella's scene but sometimes he knew that if she was going to go, she'd like to have a drink before she went to loosen up a little. She also didn't always feel comfortable drinking the jungle juice they would have at the party, not knowing exactly what was in the concoction.

Gabriella locked the door behind her with intent, set down her purse on his desk, and went over to stand in front of him. He watched with curiosity as she straddled his lap, one knee kneeling on either side of him, and pressed a kiss to his lips – soft at first, but then deepening.

"I don't feel like going to the party. Is that okay?"

He trailed his eyes up her body, allowing his hands to run up her sides, taking in her bust which was presented right in his direct eye line, before looking up into her eyes.

"What do you wanna do instead?" he asked, lips curving.

She pressed her lips to his again in response, her hips grinding into his lap, awakening his penis. His hips bucked slightly, his hands eagerly continuing with their caress of her body, with a quick squeeze of her breasts.

"Is Roger going to be around tonight?" she murmured by his ear, biting the lobe gently.

"Don't you worry about Roger."

Gabriella and Dianna had an honesty system – a quick text saying, "hey, my boyfriend is coming over..." and a reply back saying, "I'll be at the library until 11pm, have fun!" and they were sorted. Troy and Roger didn't opt for such a form of communication, instead, they'd set up a sock arrangement, almost as a joke at first. A sock hung on the door handle was like a "do not disturb" at a hotel, or in college dorm talk, it was saying "come back later, or else." Troy had hung the sock a couple of times, each time apparently Roger hadn't actually come back to the dorm anyway. Roger tended to forget to put the sock on the door – call it a part of his free loving background, but it didn't seem to bother him what state Troy saw him in. Troy had mentioned to Roger in passing conversation that Gabriella would be around on the weekend. Roger had nodded in understanding.

Nonetheless, Troy rose from the bed, Gabriella giggling as he retrieved a white sock from his drawer and quickly went over to the door, slinging it over the handle before he turned back to Gabriella, a grin on his face.

"Now... where were we?"

Neither was particularly concerned with taking their time – it wasn't like over summer when they'd be sneaking in a rendezvous with the fear of parents coming home in an hour. Instead, they were both feeling the needy hunger to devour one another. Clothes were stripped and tossed to the ground, the main light switched off and just Troy's bedside lamp left on. They teased and licked and stroked and caressed each others bodies, working up one another into a frenzy. Troy hovered over her, having grabbed a condom at a point that was unknown to Gabriella and she didn't really care to figure it out in that moment. There was nothing like the feeling of his hard length sinking into her depths, and the feeling of that union was only intensified the first time that they made love after not seeing each other for a little while. She clutched to his strong shoulders, legs wrapping around his hips to pull him in tighter as he thrust into her, obeying her murmured demands for him to go harder.

Caught in the throes of passion, neither of them heard the click of the door unlocking. It was only when the blinding light from the main hallway flooded into the room that either of them registered that someone had entered the room. The moment was a blur.

"Oh... fuck, dude!" Roger exclaimed, hand flying up to cover his eyes.

Troy's reflexes were pretty sharp, managing to reach for and yank up the comforter that was strewn at the end of the bed.

"I didn't see anything, I swear!" Roger said, his eyes covered and facing into the corridor. "Well I saw your ass but that's it, really!"

"Get the fuck out!" Troy yelped.

"Yep... going... bye!"

Troy glanced back at Gabriella, whom he had pulled out of but was laying beneath him in shock. She had pulled the pillow which had been beneath her head to cover her face. He eased himself to her side, squeezing beside her in the single bed, and allowed the comforter to cover them both.

"Babe, it's okay," he assured her.

"That didn't happen, that didn't happen," she breathed.

"Why don't we just finish and..."

"_Finish?_ Now?" Gabriella said, flabbergasted.

"Well..." Troy's erection had softened but it hadn't completely deflated – he was still pressed against his naked girlfriend, after all. "Yes. I mean... He'll stay far away for a while now, that he knows what we're doing. So we're guaranteed privacy."

"But he _knows_ what we're doing!"

Troy cocked his head at her. "You tell Dianna when we're going to be having sex."

"That's different."

"How is it different?" Troy asked. "Doesn't it occur to you that maybe I think it's a little weird that Dianna knows?"

"Dianna doesn't make a big deal about it though. It's not like I tell her exactly when we're going to be having sex, I just mention you're around and it is implied. Roger, on the other hand, is going to come back in here in a few hours and say all teasingly, 'Hey guys, how was your night? Have fun?'"

Troy laughed. Gabriella kind of did have a point. He could only hope that maybe Roger could contain himself in Gabriella's presence and save the teasing ribbing for when they weren't in mixed company.

"Troy, it's not funny. I'm mortified here!"

"I'm not exactly happy about it either, but it's happened. We can't go back and change it. The world didn't end. And to be honest, we've probably done really well to not get walked in on before now! We shouldn't let this ruin our time together."

From the look on Gabriella's face, he was pretty sure he was going to have to deal with his not quite deflated erection himself.

* * *

For their twelve month anniversary, Troy was determined to ensure that there would be no repeats of the catastrophe that had occurred – Gabriella never could quite look Roger in the eye again. It just so happened to coincide with right before their freshman year finals, and he managed to convince Gabriella that she should take 24 hours off from her insane study regiment to distress. He booked them the nicest hotel he could afford in San Francisco – which wasn't all that nice, but it was nicer than a youth hostel, more private than either of their dorms, and they were together, which was all that really mattered.

She'd been hard to convince to get there, but once they arrived and christened the room, she was glad they were taking the time to enjoy one another and to celebrate their love and how far they'd come.

They lay under just the thin white sheet, strewn covering parts of their entangled limbs. She was spooned into his arms as they lay together, dozing, simply basking in being together and being close.

"If I'd been in Albuquerque, do you think we would've made love after prom?" Gabriella suddenly asked him, as he gently rubbed his thumb over her hip.

"I... I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been hoping," he confessed, feeling a little embarrassed.

"I'd thought about it," she admitted, which appeased his worries a little.

"You had?"

"Yeah, I had."

"I guess we were ready. We loved each other and... it felt right. Even before you deciding to go for the honors program, the way we were both thinking about us... it was more than high school, you know?"

"We did it before I knew you were going to come to Berkeley though," she mused. "I guess... I just wanted it to be you. Even if you'd gone to U of A and things had been too hard and it didn't work out for us... there's no one else that I wanted my first time to be with."

He gazed into her eyes. "I love you," he said tenderly.

She didn't reply. She didn't need to.


	2. Sophomore

**2. Sophomore**

"When did you decide that you wanted to be a lawyer?" Troy asked.

It was a deep question for an afternoon which they'd designated for pure relaxation – enjoying one of the last warm-ish weekends of the early fall, with the briskness of late fall and winter set to arrive any day now. People tended to think of California of being a land of eternal sunshine – the Bay area wasn't quite as fortunate as its southern California counterparts. They were outside, spread out with a picnic blanket on the sunny lawn outside Gabriella's dorm building. They'd finished their feast and now, Troy was leaning back against a tree with Gabriella leaning back against him, seated between the V of his legs.

As they had picnicked, they'd been greeted by a few of Gabriella's classmates as they lay in the sun – a couple he had met, and one other knew all about him but hadn't had the opportunity to meet as yet. Troy was content to sit back and listen to his genius girlfriend and her friends chatter about their new professor and how the content was so much more challenging now they were in sophomore year. He felt the same about his coursework at Berkeley, and knew that as hard as things had been for he and Gabriella the year before, they were bound to get harder as they each became more entwined in their individual college lives. Hence the importance of savouring the moments they had when they had them.

At his question, Gabriella looked back at him – his face had turned suddenly very serious.

"You know, I can't even remember. Maybe I don't. Maybe I'll realise that I should've done something else instead." Her tone was somewhat wry. "You're leading somewhere, I gather?"

"You know how I'm sorta tracking to do the performing arts major?"

Troy Bolton, in his magical Troy Bolton way, had come to Berkeley with it all planned out, a way to merge his two loves. They had a major in Theatre and Performance Studies, and he was of course a part of the NCAA basketball team.

"Yeah?"

"I'm thinking I should stop."

Gabriella glanced at him. "Seriously?"

"Well... I think I've decided what I want to do. And I love performing, and I'd love to be involved with community theatre and things like that but... I don't think I should major in it. It's not something I can see myself doing, like, professionally."

"Well? What have you decided then?" Gabriella asked, cocking her head.

"I think... I think I want to be a teacher. But for elementary school. That summer, you know, the horrible one between junior and senior year..."

"It wasn't all horrible," Gabriella conceded. "Just... some of it."

He smiled. "Well... what we never really talked about was how much I love that job Fulton gave me. Not because of the perks, but for the work – I loved working with the kids. I loved you and I both working for a month as camp counselors last summer, yeah it was fun but the kids were a blast. I guess I was always a bit wary of teaching because I didn't want to just be my dad."

"That's ridiculous."

"I want to be my own person, you know?"

Gabriella shuffled around, needing to face him. She knelt on the grass, a hand on each of his thighs.

"I know, I get that. And you are, you prove that every day, just by being here in California. And I think it's really, really cool that you're thinking so hard about all this."

He looked her in the eye. "You know, I'll never be rich, if I do this."

She met his stare. "Money isn't important."

"I know, I know. I just... I don't want to send myself down a dead end path. I want to be able to be something. After all, you're going to be some hot shot lawyer."

Gabriella smiled. "You think about us, together, in the future?"

Troy shrugged – a little embarrassed. "I... I don't _not_ think about us."

"I think about us too. I think about how I want to be with someone who loves what he does, who has passion for life. I have no interest in being with someone who forces themself to work their ass off just for some cash."

"I could stick with performing. You never know, I could become a rich famous Hollywood actor."

"Do you really want that life either?"

"Hmm... maybe not."

"Go talk to your guidance office," Gabriella said seriously. "It'll help, I'm sure. For starters, don't quote me on this, but I don't think Berkeley has an education major, so if you're interested in elementary school, then you'll need to be looking at an internship while you're studying or doing a fifth year of studies to get certified..."

"Why do I need a guidance counsellor, when I've got you?" Troy asked, mostly teasing but a little truthful. It was often Gabriella who set him on track when he was uncertain about life.

She merely smiled, and observed, "You know, this is the first time that we've really talked about an 'us' existing in the future."

"Talked about, maybe. But do you think I would follow just anyone to California, if I didn't think that maybe, just maybe, it might be worth pursuing?" Troy pointed out.

"Hrm... I may give you that one."

"So I don't need to pull out my anniversary diary?"

Gabriella laughed. "No. No need."

* * *

Maria Montez hummed along to the radio as she drove around the corner just down the block from her townhouse. She'd moved closer to downtown after Gabriella finished high school, since roaming around their big house on her own wasn't going to be very practical. She'd been out doing a few errands and picking up ingredients to make her dish for the New Years Eve party being hosted at the Bolton's. A similar party had been held the year before – with any of Troy and Gabriella's friends who were back in Albuquerque for the holidays being invited. It had been such a success that Lucille had decided to host the event again that year, at the encouragement of both Troy and Gabriella who were again home for the holidays.

She punched in the code to the gated estate, the gates opening to give her entrance. She drove past the visitor's parking bays, not paying much attention, before rounding the corner into her own secure spot.

It was a two storey townhouse, with the living, kitchen and dining as well as a study nook downstairs, and upstairs the master bedroom with ensuite, second bedroom and main bathroom. It was different to what she was accustomed to, but she'd been quick to settle in with her decorative flair making it feel like home quickly. She simply pulled into her small driveway, not bothering to open the garage door. She'd insisted that Gabriella take some time whilst home for the holidays to go through some of her boxes which she had avoided doing each time she was home during freshman year. She didn't mind storing things but she at least wanted it to be organised storage. Gabriella had dutifully pulled down a series of boxes and unpacked the objects in the middle of the garage – and had been distracted by Troy's arrival and left it all out. That had been two days earlier, and the project had not been returned to.

Maria used her keys to open the front door, juggling several bags of groceries. She was about to call out and see if Gabriella was about, when she frowned at the immediate sight of the reception and living area that was within view. Coats were neatly hung on the hangers by the door, a pair of converse sneakers were among the pile of shoes. However, what stood out more was the Berkeley sweatshirt which was on the edge of the sofa, and at the foot of the stairs, a white v-neck t-shirt was strewn haphazardly.

Just as she was putting the pieces of the puzzle together, a thumping sound coming from upstairs along with the unmistakable sound of a masculine groan confirmed the suspicions. With wide eyes, Maria backed up, making the executive decision to exit the building quickly, taking her groceries with her.

...

Gabriella was on her knees leaning forward with one hand clutching the post of her bed, the other splayed open palmed against the wall just above her headboard. Troy's hands gripped onto her hips, holding her steady as his hard length thrust into her slick channel. Her back arched slightly, allowing for a different angle of penetration, slightly deeper, and she moaned aloud.

"Fuck, Gabriella," Troy panted. "Did you... did you hear something?"

She shook her head. "I told you, the garage door will go up if she comes back. Shit right there, right there... please harder."

...

Maria Montez wasn't oblivious to the developments in her daughter's relationship with Troy. It was to be expected, and although Gabriella hadn't ever explicitly told her, she'd suspected it had happened at some point over summer vacation prior to their departure for college. There had been something different about their interactions that summer, a new maturity to the loving gazes and lustful looks. However it was something she'd managed to avoid experiencing any direct interaction with, a fact she was grateful for.

She was struggling to wrap her mind around being confronted with this, and quickly made the decision to jump into her car and go for a drive, heading over to the Bolton household earlier than originally planned. She took a small detour, smiling as she drove past the house just a few streets away where she and Gabriella lived for over eighteen months. Each time she was back in the neighbourhood she'd drive past, which was fairly often. She and Lucille had become close during the absence of their kids. It turned out that the day before. Lucille had experienced a similar encounter. They bonded, crying a little at their kids growing up but secretly feeling a sense of content that they were doing it with one another.

"I mean, they've been together three years almost! I'd perhaps be more shocked if they _weren't_ doing it," Maria rationed with herself.

"Hey Maria, thought I saw your car out there," Jack's voice announced, as he arrived armed with loads of groceries that Lucille had sent him out to get. "Did Luce rope you in to help get things ready for the party?"

"Something like that," Maria replied.

"Where's Troy? He should be helping."

Lucille and Maria exchanged looks.

"I'm pretty sure he's at my place," Maria responded after a moment's silence.

"He took my car without even asking! The cheek of him, can you believe that Maria? I had to take Lucy's car to the store. I'll ring him, get his butt back here to help with this party that he insisted we host."

Lucille coughed. "Uh, maybe you should not call him?" she said, voice questioningly.

"Why not?"

"How long have I been here?" Maria pondered. "It might be okay... ugh, I cannot believe I am thinking about how much 'time' would be necessary."

Suddenly, between the flushed women's faces, the awkward tones and the fact that Troy was with Gabriella, Jack put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Did you walk in on them?" he asked bluntly.

Maria cringed. "Just... heard. And saw some clothes on the floor. So I came here instead..."

"I heard them here yesterday," Lucille added. "Not something I was ready for."

"Only just this vacation either of you have heard them?" Jack exclaimed. They both nodded. He shook his head in disbelief. "No wonder you look scarred. You've been in denial."

"I rather enjoyed being in denial," Lucille said.

"Take pride in the fact that they had the brains to be discreet enough to hide it from you for this long!" This was the only silver lining that Jack could offer.

Ten minutes later, Troy and Gabriella strode in hand in hand, having figured exactly as Jack as highlighted that they should help prepare for the party.

"Mami, what are you doing here?" Gabriella asked, confused.

Maria couldn't quite look her daughter in the eye. "I was just leaving, actually. Lucy and I were having a cuppa, but I have to head home to make my dish and get ready for the party."

"I wondered why you weren't home yet. Do you want me to come back with you, help you make the dish?" Gabriella offered.

"No no, you stay here and help Lucy, we lost track of time with our chatting and I'm sure there's lots she can use you for."

Maria's tone was a little forcefully cheery, but it was the best she could manage.

"Okay, if you're sure?" Gabriella said, a little mystified by her mothers behaviour.

"I'm sure. See you all later on!"

"Bye Ms Montez," Troy said, oblivious to anything being different to normal. "Okay, mom, what can we do?"

* * *

Two days after getting back to California, Troy and Gabriella lay in her dorm room bed, wrapped up in the cozy comforter. The next day Troy would head back to Berkeley, and the semester would continue, inevitably getting crazier and putting more pressure on them to make time for one another. The moments where time didn't matter were precious.

"Do you know what today is?" Gabriella asked softly, stroking her fingers across his shoulder.

Troy smiled. He did, but he couldn't help but tease. "Hmm... I didn't forget your birthday, did I?"

Gabriella giggled, knowing that Troy knew perfectly well when her birthday was.

"Nope. Better than my birthday."

He smiled, and pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder.

"Three years since the day you got your first detention."

Gabriella smiled widely at the memory. "Best detention ever."

"Who knew that my detention buddy and I would be here today?" Troy mused.

"I never in a million years would've thought it."

"How could you think that? I was smitten from the very start!"

"Because you were you, and I was..."

"Beautiful," Troy cut in.

"No need to charm me now, you got me," she said teasingly.

"Not being charming. Just the truth."


	3. Junior

**3. Junior**

"_Honey, we miss you so much. Are you sure you can't find time for a weekend before Thanksgiving?" _

Troy was on the phone having a quick catch up with his mother. It was only six weeks since he'd been back at Berkeley for the start of junior year after summer break.

Troy sighed. "Mama, as much as I'd love to, I really can't. I'm so busy, with rehearsals, practice, tutoring... oh and not to mention my actual classes!"

"_I know, I know. I was being hopeful, I guess. Every year when you go home after summer vacation I'm going to feel something is missing here at home."_

"It'll be Thanksgiving before you know it."

"_More like it'll be Thanksgiving before _you_ know it!"_

Troy made an mmm-hmm sound in agreement – time was flying by. It felt like yesterday he'd been in Albuquerque tanning by the pool at Lava Springs.

"_How's Gabriella?"_

Troy went quiet. "Um, I haven't actually seen her since I left her at Stanford a couple of days before school started."

There was a moment's silence from Lucille's end. _"Oh well... you're both busy."_

Busy truly was an understatement. Troy's decision in sophomore year to pursue a career in education was one which he was actively working toward – and in typical Troy Bolton fashion, he didn't do things in halves. He'd spent a month of summer break working at a summer basketball camp for middle school age boys, and the second month he was helping out at Lava Springs where they were running a month long day camp for members kids. He interchanged between the theatre and sports rotations. Gabriella had spent her first month doing an internship as a paralegal assistant at a New Mexico based law firm, and the second half she'd picked up a summer job at a bookstore. The result was that even over summer, their time together had been sparse. Now that school was back, things were even more hectic. Troy had managed to pick up some work tutoring elementary age kids, which was ideal for him because he could schedule in hour blocks as they suited his rehearsals and training. Gabriella's schedule was more gruelling than ever, exacerbated by the fact that she had the death slot lecture of 8am Monday morning. She only had classes Monday – Thursday – but she'd managed to get herself a work experience position doing administration work every Friday.

"We are. It's not... it's not that I don't _want_ to see her, and I'm sure it's not that she doesn't want to see me. This semester just got really busy straight away. She works in the campus bookstore now, and usually has a weekend shift. Training has been so hectic and we're putting in extra hours for gym time and..." Troy trailed off. He was feeling tired just recounting their lives. "I'm hoping she can make it up here next weekend. Or me down there. Except... We'll see."

* * *

Gabriella was frazzled. She rarely felt that way when it came to her school work. However that year, perhaps for the first time, she felt as though she just may have bitten off more than she could chew. Her work experience position was going wonderfully, more than wonderfully – so well that they had her coming in for an extra half day a week, on Wednesday when her first class started at 2pm. Between work experience, her actual work at the campus bookstore, her courses, the law society for undergraduates, through which she was participating in an extra curricular mooting competition – she was feeling rather haggard. The difference between pre-law classes and the science and math she'd favoured in high school was that you couldn't just breeze through doing calculations quickly. You couldn't fake your way through research and hundreds of pages of reading. To her mothers dismay, Gabriella worked and studied straight through Thanksgiving, while Troy had gone home to Albuquerque for a few days.

She'd ignored three texts from Troy that day – it wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him. She just didn't have the capacity to think about him, not when her biggest research project to date was due two days away and in those two days she had a million other things to be doing. He would want to chat and ask about her day and inevitably express concern when she would tell him how frazzled she was. And the time she would take talking to him would just make her more frazzled because it was time she could spend doing something else.

However she should've learned – Troy wasn't 'that guy' who would just leve her be. No, he was persistent. So when she hadn't texted him back to tell him that Skype wasn't good that night, her phone started to ring, the same ringtone for Troy she'd had since senior year – she'd had Kelsi put together a instrumental version of Just Wanna Be With You. She stared at it, considering ignoring it, but decided she was better off just getting it over with.

"Hey," she answered simply.

"_You go off the grid all day and all I get is hey?"_

"I'm so sorry. I'm just super stressed and busy, and to be honest with you I don't have time to talk." As she spoke, she was skim reading a passage of an article, trying to find a particular quote she'd seen.

There was a moment's silence from Troy's end which she didn't really take in. _"Seems like you never have time these days, babe."_

She heard this – and it annoyed her. She sighed irritably. "Troy, you know how important my studies are to me. And my mooting. And..."

"_And your work experience. Yes. I get it. You're not the only one who is busy – I get we don't have time to see each other, but I think I at least am owed the occasional phone conversation where you're not reading an article or book while you're talking to me."_

She sat up in her desk, setting down the article. "I'm sorry for multitasking," she said, sarcasm dripping.

"_Life isn't all about studying!"_

"Well you know what, for some of us, it has to be. If I want to make it into law school..."

"_Gabriella, this is _me_ you're talking to. You and I both know that the coursework isn't overly challenging for you. It isn't high school piss easy but I know you're acing through, top marks in everything."_

"But I study hard to get those grades, and I do it because if I want to get supported by scholarships through all of law school, I need my grades to be perfect, I need to have extra-curriculars on my resume, I need to have good recommendations from my professors."

"_I know all this. Please don't talk to me like I'm dumb, like I don't understand how the process works."_

"Well when you're constantly texting me and demanding my attention when you know how stressed out I am, I can't help but think that obviously you don't get it."

"_Demanding your attention?"_ his tone was incredulous. Gabriella bit her lip – it had slipped out and as she'd said it, she knew it sounded harsh.

"Troy, I..."

"_I'm so sorry that as your boyfriend, as someone who loves you, that I want to talk to you. I'm so sorry to be so demanding of your time."_

"It's not that I don't love you, Troy, I just... I just don't have time right now!"

"_You don't have time for me? For us?"_

"No! I don't!"

There was silence over the phone. Finally, it was Gabriella who spoke.

"Maybe... if you can just give me a few weeks... then the worst of my assignments will be over with and..."

"_And then it'll be midterms and then something else will happen,"_ Troy cut in. She heard a wobble to his tone as he spoke. _"You want a break? Is that what you're saying? You want a break from us?"_

"I feel bad for being so busy, I hate having to tell you that I don't have time to come up or that you shouldn't bother coming all this way to see me because I don't have time to see you. And me feeling bad just makes me guilty and it stresses me out more and so maybe if I didn't have to worry about that stress for a little while, it would help me get through this busy time."

"_Sorry to be such a burden."_

"Troy, I don't mean it like that."

"_You've made it perfectly clear how you mean it. Tell you what, you ring me when you have time, and I'll see if I have time for you. Okay?"_

"Troy, I love you. I don't want to break _up_, I just need some space!"

"_I'm not a toy that you get to play with and discard and come back to as you please. You and I are in a relationship – at least, I thought we were. If you have two minutes free, maybe you should think about that."_

The phone went dead. Gabriella's lower lip began to tremble, and a lone tear slid down her cheek.

* * *

It was ten days since they'd last spoken. Troy lay staring at the ceiling of his dorm room. His life in California had, on many accounts, turned out pretty well. He'd become friends with a bunch of guys, mostly from his basketball team but also a few from his courses and one from the community theatre program he'd been participating in. Despite all of these social acquaintances, he didn't have anyone in California who really, truly _knew_ him.

Well, he had one. But she was unavailable.

In a moment of spontaneity, he grabbed his cell phone and dialled the number of the one person who he needed to speak to in that moment.

"_You don't call, you don't write. If I didn't know better, I'd think you thought you were too good for us simpletons stuck back here in Albuquerque."_

"Hello to you too, Chad."

"_What's happening, man?"_

"Not much. Just calling to say hi."

"_You never call to say hi. Facebook me, maybe. But call? Never."_

Troy managed a chuckle. "Yeah."

"_What's going on?"_

"I uh... I guess I want your advice?" Troy's tone was questioning. He scratched the back of his head. Truly, he just wanted to vent.

"_Spill."_

"Well... Gabriella and I had a fight."

" _A fight? And this has gotten you all worked up? When did this happen?"_

"Ten days ago. We haven't talked since."

"_Did you break up?" _Chad wasn't the type to beat around the bush.

"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know!"

Troy went on to tell Chad about how long it had been since seeing Gabriella, how stressed she'd been, how pissed he'd gotten at her suggestion of a break, and the last words they'd spoken.

Chad sighed. _"Hoops, dude, grow some balls and call her."_

"Why should I be the one to call her?"

"_Because that's what you do."_

"Maybe I'm sick of chasing her, man! I mean... I come all this way out here, for _her._ She says she loves me but sometimes... I wish she'd back it up, you know?"

Chad sighed at the other end. _"I get that. I do. But I guess... sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do. You know?"_

"Maybe."

* * *

Despite Chad's encouragement, Troy decided to not call. He was leaving the ball in her court. He threw himself into his own studies, work and extra curriculars, before he knew it finals had arrived and he was on a plane back home for winter break.

The Bolton New Years' Eve party just wasn't the same without Gabriella and Maria Montez. Lucille had told Troy that she'd extended the invite out of courtesy, however Maria had told her that she and Gabriella were going away together on vacation. Troy couldn't help but feel glad to hear this – not that he wouldn't see her, but that she was taking a vacation. The way she'd been acting, he wouldn't have been surprised if she'd worked the whole way through the holiday season. The Danforth's were present, so Troy and Chad took the night to sit back having a couple of beers – Chad legally, Troy just a couple of months away from legally. Chad tactfully decided to not bring up Gabriella and Troy was happy to not talk about her.

His mind was centred on her enough, without talking about her.

It was five years since he'd met her. The year before he'd started to imagine romantic ways they could celebrate the evening, however none of his plans were necessary. He picked up his cell phone a dozen times – if there was a time that he'd break his resolve and call her, it was going to be that night. However he remained strong, stopping himself each and every time.

The party guests were all gone by 1am, and Troy almost immediately collapsed into bed. It turned out that internally obsessing about his maybe ex-girlfriend was exhausting. The world of sleep was rather appealing.

...

At 2:47am – according to his digital clock – Troy was awoken by the distinctive sound of knocking on the glass door between his room and the backyard. At first he didn't register the sound, but the rapping continued and finally, he blearily opened his eyes and looked up, figuring it was Chad being a dickhead. However the noise was coming from the last person he imagined he would see.

Even through the glass, her figure was unmistakable. Another blink of the eyes and he registered that not only was she standing outside, but she was standing outside in the rain. He leapt out of bed, opened the balcony door and stood staring at her, somewhat dumbfounded, unsure of what he wanted to say or could say.

Gabriella stood still, staring at the doorstep between the backyard and Troy's room. She was sopping wet, her Stanford sweatshirt and mass of curls bearing the brunt of the heavy rain she'd been caught in.

Troy coughed, and managed a questioning greeting. "Hi?"

"Hi," she said softly, sounding equally uncertain, though she was the one who was there. She blinked, staring at him and cocked her head. "You got your hair cut."

He shrugged. He wasn't going to tell her that he'd done it in a whim of 'new life without Gabriella, new hair, new man' mentality a few weeks earlier. Or that he'd spent the whole time pouring out his emotions to the hairdresser. So he simply offered a shrug and a nod. "Yup."

She cleared her throat. "Can I come in? I um... I'd like to talk to you. If that's okay. I know it's late but..." she trailed off.

A part of Troy wanted to tell her to take a hike unless she was going to apologise. But looking at her adorable wide eyes, she always had the ability to win him over, no matter how strong he'd thought his resolve was.

"Um... yeah. Come in," he said, stepping back.

She stepped inside, grateful to come in from the rain. Troy quickly pulled on a pair of sweat pants that had been scattered on the floor over his boxers and grabbed a Cal sweatshirt and pulled it on. Upon glancing back at Gabriella, he turned to his closet and also retrieved an old East High sweatshirt.

"Give me a minute, I'll get you a towel."

She nodded and waited still while he quietly padded out into the corridor. She glanced around his room, which almost two and a half years after he'd moved out for college, still was kept in its original state as a shrine to Troy – and to her. A handful of framed photographs remained around the room, photographs of the two of them throughout their high school years. She glanced up when his door opened, Troy reappearing with a fluffy beige towel he'd retrieved from the hall closet. She accepted it gratefully, patting at her hair, and then pulled off her wet Stanford sweatshirt and replaced it with the Wildcats one Troy had given her. Troy sat down on the edge of his bed. Gabriella contemplated sitting beside him but upon second thought, she draped her damp sweatshirt on the back of the desk chair and then sat down, turning it around to face him.

A hundred questions floated through Troy's head. Finally, he settled on one.

"I thought you were on vacation with your mom."

"Um... I was. We got back earlier today... well, yesterday. We were going to be away for New Years' but mom needs to be back at work the day after tomorrow. Some things never change."

Troy nodded. "How did you get here?"

"I rode mom's bicycle. It started raining about halfway here."

"Oh. Okay."

"You're probably wondering why I'm here."

"Among many things."

Gabriella was playing with the hem of the sweatshirt. She wasn't sure how to articulate what she wanted to say. Last time that she'd tried to articulate something important to Troy, it had wound up in a big mess. Finally, she started speaking slowly.

"Mom and I had a quiet night in. Had a couple of glasses of champagne, watched fireworks on TV. It was nice. But the whole time... the whole time, I kept thinking about you."

She tore her eyes away from the carpet and looked at him. He was looking at her, a look of confusion on his face.

"God Troy... I screwed all of this up," she confessed woefully. "I... I love you. I'm... I'm so angry at myself about how everything happened. But the way you spoke to me – I won't lie to you, that hurt me. But... I understand why you were upset with me and... and I know it was all my fault."

"It wasn't all your fault," Troy finally spoke. "I... I guess I could've been more understanding."

"I wanted to call you, so many times. I hate how we..." she paused. She was about to say 'broke up.' She decided to change her wording. "... how we left things. At first I was upset that you weren't being understanding. But I then decided that was out of line. I felt like I needed to get myself sorted out before I even thought about calling you because I was just burning myself out and I couldn't promise to have more time for you, and I know what it was doing to our relationship."

"You felt like you needed to get yourself sorted out... and now you're here?"

Gabriella nodded. "I told my boss at my internship that I needed to cut back on the extra day. She offered me a _paid_ internship to keep me from doing that. So... I quit my job on campus."

Troy grinned. It was just like Gabriella to be able to make things work in her favour like that. "Babe, that's seriously amazing! Good for you! I bet you're being paid more in an internship than doing campus retail, too."

"A tiny bit more. Enough that it counts. I got my schedule for next semester and it's going to work out really well. What this will also mean is that I never have to work on the weekend – which gives me more time for you and me..." she trailed off. "That is... well... if... if you still want there to be a you and me."

"Gabriella... I love you. That never changed."

She rose from her seat at his desk and sat beside him on the bed. "You do? Because I've kind of been a nightmare."

Troy laughed, and took her hand in his. "We've got a lot to talk about, yeah. But I've been so miserable without you. I never... I don't expect you to drop everything in your life, I know that there will be busy patches. But you were burning yourself into the ground and I hated sitting back and having no choice but to watch because you wouldn't let me help."

"I've been miserable without you too," Gabriella admitted. "I think not having you there made me realise how much I depend on you, just for emotional support... and it made me realise that cutting you out isn't the way to get through the bad days."

"I wish I'd called you sooner... I went to call, so many times. But I guess..." Troy sighed. "I needed it to be you."

"I get that."

They both fell silent, simply basking in looking into one another's eyes, Troy's thumbs rubbing the back of Gabriella's palms.

"Can we kiss now?" Gabriella whispered.

"Please."

They had hundreds of kisses to make up for. In the early hours of the morning in Troy's bedroom on New Years' morning, it was no better time or place than to start making up for them. Soft kisses, hard kisses, gentle kisses, nipping kisses, probing kisses – all moulded into a marathon good old fashioned make out session. Finally, they pulled away from one another, flushed and rumpled. Gabriella cuddled into his side, Troy nestling back against the pillows and holding her close.

"This is the third time that I really thought that we might be over," Troy whispered.

"That isn't something I like keeping track of."

"Me neither but... I can't help it. It's like, ingrained in my mind. I can remember how I felt each and every time. This time though... God. Never again."

"Never," she agreed. "You're stuck with me."

"Lucky me."

...

Lucille knocked lightly on Troy's door. It was 11am and he'd shown no signs of surfacing so she decided it was best to check in. She knew that it would've been a particularly difficult night for him, and despite his brave front and insistence that he was 'fine' her mother's intuition told her otherwise. He didn't respond, and so she carefully eased the door open.

She blinked. It wasn't her first time seeing something compromising, but it was the most surprising compromising thing that she'd seen. Troy was lying on his side facing toward the bedroom door, his bare arms encircled around the bare arms of none other than Gabriella Montez. There was no nudity on display however Lucille could see enough to suspect that there weren't any clothes beneath the bed covers. The protective mama bear wanted to slam the door closed and wake them up and have them explain themselves – her and Jack's house, her and Jack's rules, no matter how old the kids were. But the protective mama bear also couldn't help but feel giddy with happiness at the contented smile on both of the sleeping faces before her. She allowed her second reaction to take control of her behaviour and quietly closed the door behind her.

Emerging into the kitchen, she immediately grabbed her cell phone and dialled a number.

"Maria? It's Lucy. Just wanted to see if you were missing a daughter... uh-huh... well, she's here!"


	4. Senior

**4. Senior **

Gabriella should have been paying attention. She was sitting in a lecture hall and whereas she found the content interesting, she was distracted. Her cell phone which was discretely inside her cupcake print pencil case on the desk lit up. She carefully pressed a couple of buttons, obscuring the phone from view of the professor, and the incoming text opened.

**You minx! You're in a lecture and asking me that? I say you leave both the red and the blue at home and we spend the whole weekend naked.**

Gabriella stifled a giggle and smirked. She was headed to Berkeley after her last class that afternoon. Troy was playing an important game that night and she was excited to see him play, she hadn't made it to a game in a few weeks.

_I am not going to be naked at your game tonight!_

**That could be a good strategy. Distract the opposition.**

_And you! And your teammates!_

**Hm, true. Okay, you can wear clothes tonight. But you can still leave the panties at home ;)**

_Is this what the rest of my life is going to entail? You trying to convince me to walk around not wearing panties?_

The first semester of junior year had been an important learning point for Troy and Gabriella. Despite how horrible their time apart had been, it was an experience that was a catalyst for turning their relationship into something greater, something more mature. They both had actively decided to be a "we" – that their individual lives and decisions impacted upon their life together, and more importantly, their future together. Whereas there was no definite form of lifelong commitment in the form of a conversation or a ring, there was a shift in the dynamic that went beyond the whimsical talks of the future associated with adolescence.

**I'm afraid so.**

_Then maybe I should be insisting you're always shirtless._

**Don't be silly. That's not in the best interests of my health. What if I get cold?**

_I'll keep you warm ;)_

**Yup. Minx. Stop texting me, you should be learning!**

_You started it!_

**And it seems like you're the one who wants to 'finish' it.**

_Tonight. And tomorrow... over and over..._

**Can't wait. Let me know when you're on your way.**

_Okay, I will. Love you xo_

**Love you too xx**

...

Gabriella had kept Troy up to date with her trip from Stanford. The quickest way to make the journey on public transport took just over two hours – she could walk to get a bus to Union City, and then catch the BART up to Berkeley. She had started bringing her bicycle with her in senior year, mostly because Troy was in a different dorm for his senior year, moving into Clark Kerr Campus. This was a good thing for every reason but one – it was at the far side of campus, a half hour walk from the BART. It wasn't so bad if they literally spent the entire time in his room but when they emerged into the real world, when the weather was too cold or too hot, it was a little further than what was comfortable to walk.

She emerged from the BART station into the courtyard and a moment later, she felt a pair of arms engulf her from behind. She would know those arms anywhere but she couldn't help but tease him.

"Those better be the arms of my boyfriend, otherwise you'd better watch out because he'll be here any minute," she murmured.

He nipped her ear and kicked the stand of her bicycle down, allowing her to let it lean and rest, so she could turn around to hug him properly.

"I missed you so much," she murmured into his ear.

He pressed a greeting kiss to her lips. Normally Gabriella was reasonably demure in public, however she returned his kiss with a fervour.

"Do you need to get anything around here?" he gestured to the shops around them. "We can come back later if you need to."

She shook her head. "I'm good. Can we go?"

The look in her eye was clear. Their flurry of text messages earlier had unmistakably put both of them into a mood. "Yes, yes we can."

The ride from the BART to Clark Kerr was familiar to both of them. They avoided the main streets, taking short cuts, riding side by side when they could and when they couldn't Troy taking the lead. It was about a ten minute ride, and when they pulled up in front of his building they locked up their bicycles outside, Gabriella unstrapped her duffel bag which Troy promptly picked up. Hand in hand, Troy led her into the building. Gabriella saw some familiar faces, smiling and waving when she was greeted. Troy had no intentions of stopping to chat for which she was grateful. He unlocked the door to his suite, where they would spend the majority of their time.

"Hey Gabriella, you here all weekend?" a voice called out as Troy dragged her through the living area.

Now that Troy was living at Clark Kerr Campus, he was a fixture in a suite where he had his own single bedroom – in Gabriella's opinion, the best part of the move. He'd lucked out with a decent set of flatmates in his suite – his roommate and friend from junior year, Liam, had also moved in. They had an international student from Korea who kept to himself and didn't complain much; an engineering major who they called 'Howard' in tribute to _The Big Bang Theory_ who was actually named Stan; and a tall, tall fellow named James who was in the pre-Law program. It was James who had called out – Troy would almost feel threatened by the common interests his flatmate and Gabriella shared, if James wasn't in his own serious relationship.

"Yes," Gabriella called back, already in the hall and almost at Troy's room.

"You can talk to her at the game," Troy shouted back.

"Is Patricia coming?" Gabriella called.

"Yes!" James' reply was faint, and then Troy pulled Gabriella into his room and closed the door behind them.

Gabriella had developed a good camaraderie with Troy's flatmates, in particular James. After she'd rearranged her schedule for spring semester of junior year, it had started making much more sense for her to be visiting him at Berkeley rather than him trekking down to Stanford. Because of his game schedule, Troy's schedule was the least flexible of the pair. In senior year with his new living arrangements, it made even more sense for her to be coming to Berkeley. At first she'd felt a little disconcerted about the idea of being paraded through among his all-male suite and them disappearing into his room and rarely surfacing for two days. However she got over it pretty quickly, especially after meeting James' girlfriend Patricia who was a junior at the University of San Francisco who would often be around at the same time as her. On weekends when Gabriella was up at Berkeley, if Troy was playing a home game she would usually sit with James and Patricia.

Troy almost tossed her duffel bag into the corner, but at last minute withheld, not knowing whether anything in there was valuable, and set it down neatly instead. Gabriella placed her small cross body bag beside it and then turned to face him, arms around him, resting on his shoulders and fingers toying with the hair at the nape of his neck. Along with their newfound love and respect with one another, Gabriella could identify a very superficial outcome that she approved of from their time apart the year before – his shorter haircut.

"How long do we have til you have to get ready for the game?" she murmured.

Troy fished his cell phone out of his jeans pocket and conferred with the time. "An hour?"

"Plenty of time." Her voice was practically a purr.

"I should send you naughty text messages while you're in class more often," Troy observed. He loved when Gabriella was open about her desires – it was usually he who took the lead, but he was finding that the longer they were together, the more comfortable she was with that side of herself and of their relationship.

"Aha! You admit that it was you that started it!" she declared triumphantly.

"And you who is going to finish it?" he prompted coyly.

Their pre-game sexual encounters were generally of a similar tone, when they did take place. Troy was fortunate that his coach wasn't the kind who made the team make some sort of 'no sex' pact. At a time he'd kept it as his personal ritual, just because it seemed to be the varsity athlete tradition. However a couple of years ago, Gabriella had been present pre-game and he'd been so pent up that she'd been forced to resort to science, producing for him case studies which supported that the right _kind_ of sex could potentially enhance athletic performance – nothing too strenuous on the part of the male, releasing tension but not overexerting the body. For Troy, that was more than enough for him to toss his tradition out the window. And for Gabriella, it was an excuse to allow that inner minx to come out – in a feeling that it was her 'duty' as the varsity athlete's girlfriend to ensure that he had the right kind of sexual encounter to maximise his performance. It was, after all, in the best interest of the Bears. Although she wouldn't dare to admit to most of her Cardinal classmates that she supported 'the enemy.'

Gabriella didn't respond verbally to his statement; she chose instead to allow her lips and fingers to do the communicating. Initiating a fiery kiss, she was quick to bring her hand up his thigh and to cup his groin, carefully but with intent. Troy couldn't help but groan. Her fingers toyed with the button and fly of his trousers, undoing them and allowing her to slip her hand inside for another stroke of his penis, with only boxer brief material interfering.

"Does that illustrate my intent?" she murmured.

He kissed her hungrily, happily enjoying the sensation of her teasing and toying with his member. He barely even noticed when his trousers were pooled at his feet and that she was slowly prying at the elastic at the top of his boxer briefs, ready to seize and remove. His hand skirted down her back over her jersey length sweater which reached mid thigh, reaching the small of her back and pushing the sweater up, his hand falling over her black leggings along the curve of her backside, squeezing her firm cheek – and then hesitating, pulling away from the kiss.

"Am I feeling what I think I'm feeling?"

Troy was familiar enough with Gabriella, her body, her curves and her dress sense to know when he was feeling something unusual.

"Tell me, if I reached into your leggings right now, I wouldn't be finding panties, would I?"

She gave him a teasing smile. "You gave me your request for the weekend."

He stared at her cheeky expression, shaking his head in somewhat disbelief. She never failed to surprise him and arouse him and stimulate him – and consequently make him feel more and more in love.

"You are so hot. Fuck I love you," Troy groaned.

"Now you shouldn't be focusing on what I am wearing and not wearing," she declared, and chose that moment to pull down his boxer briefs, pushing the material all the way to the floor. He assisted with stepping out of them, and in a moment of impatience, pulled off his sweatshirt and wife beater in one go, tossing them aside, leaving him completely naked in front of her.

"I appear to be overdressed, even without panties," Gabriella observed, and her response to his effort to undress was to remove her leggings. She did so carefully, ensuring he was able to watch her slender legs as they emerged from the fabric but didn't give a hint of what lay beneath. Her sweater hung to midthigh, a tantalising, teasing length.

"Don't suppose you'd be a doll and lean over to pick up all these scattered clothes? You know I can't handle it when my room is a mess."

She paused, before kneeling down by his feet, grasping his semi-erect penis at the base with her right hand, and swirling her tongue around the head teasingly. She glanced up at him.

"Would you rather I did this, or picked up the clothes?"

* * *

Now that they were in senior year, Troy convinced Gabriella that they were deserving of going away over spring vacation to celebrate impending graduation. At first they had discussions of renting a car and heading down the coast to a romantic beach location. However James and Patricia had suggested they all go away to Las Vegas, with Patricia having not long since turned 21. Gabriella had revealed to Troy an urge to make sure she had the full 'college experience' and he pointed out that it wasn't college without having a fun, light hearted spring break celebration. She was never going to be the type to get into the party scene of Cancun or Miami over spring break, so Vegas with a small group of friends seemed like an ideal compromise.

They'd booked cheap hotel rooms toward the end of the strip, at Excalibur. It looked like a fairytale castle from the outside. On the inside, each couple was staying in the cheapest standard room with a king bed, dresser, bathroom and television. It was all that was needed – it was somewhere to sleep, and certainly in the case of Troy and Gabriella, to make the most of the extended alone time together.

Which was exactly how proceedings began – they'd been in the room for no longer than five minutes settling in when Troy wrapped his arms around Gabriella from behind, pressed a soft kiss to her neck, and murmured into her ear, "Wanna check out the water pressure in the shower with me?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes but nonetheless smiled. "How romantic. A sexual proposition veiled in a need to explore the bathroom facilities. Troy Bolton, you sweep me off my feet every day."

He laughed. "Worth a try. Although I am going to shower – I know it was only a short flight but I feel gross after the plane, and this Nevada humidity is already getting to me. And since we're meeting James and Pat in..." he glanced at his watch. "... an hour, better get moving."

"The basketballer is precious about being covered in sweat? Oh, such irony," she remarked.

He laughed and headed over to the bathroom, where Gabriella had already taken both of their toiletries kits. To his surprise, she followed him in there.

"What are you doing?"

"I never said _no_ to the shower!"

...

They spent their first night in Las Vegas out at a nice meal, having drinks as a group, and then exploring the strip and taking countless photographs of the lights and the glitz. The next day they all slept in – even Troy, with his regimented morning wake up and jog, was able to sleep later than normal and when he was bored, woke up Gabriella in creative ways before he was tired enough to go back to sleep. They did more sightseeing in the afternoon, then had picked up cheap show tickets for the night so did dinner, drinks and a show. The third night was a night of messy, messy fun. The problem with cheap dacquiris that come from machines is that the consumer doesn't psychologically feel as though they are drinking. The sensation is that it is merely a slurpee, the kind you could get at 7-Eleven. However the affect is rather different to that of a slurpee.

They'd started having some drinks mid afternoon, and between her small composition, not often drinking and the sun, Gabriella was feeling merry. They headed back to the hotel with the agreement they'd all get changed and head back out for dinner and drinks – with the silent agreement that said getting ready would take a few hours. Troy was taking a post coitus nap when Gabriella in her giddy mood decided she was bored and scribbled him a quick note and headed down to the gaming floor.

...

Troy woke up an hour later to her note. He pulled on jeans and a polo before calling her to see where she was, and she gave him quick instructions – evidently she'd moved casinos from her original plan to just head downstairs. He fired off a text to James that they might be delayed and headed out to find Gabriella. He watched her from afar, gleefully pressing buttons on the slot machine. He was more into poker himself, he didn't quite get the fascination to play slot machines. Before they'd left for Las Vegas he'd jokingly told Gabriella that between her mathematical skills and memory, she should play card games and count cards. She'd frowned, rolled her eyes and told him that he'd watched _21 _a few too many times and asked if he'd paid attention to the whole film. As he approached closer, he was able to see the screen, and gasped.

"Gabriella! Look at how much money you have there!" Troy gasped. "How much have you put into the machine?"

"Troy! You woke up!" she turned away from the machine long enough to throw her arms around him and smack a kiss to his lips. "Now, don't stand too close. This cute bartender keeps bringing me drinks. I heard you can get drinks in Vegas if you're gambling but I didn't know it was true!"

He raised his eyebrows. "I don't think you need any more drinks just now, it's only 6pm. and cute bartender? Sure he's just bringing them without you flirting a little to encourage him to keep bringing them?"

"I would never do that! You know I love you," she said earnestly, and despite her protest for him to not stand too close, pulled him in for another kiss. He had to admit, tipsy Gabriella amused him greatly.

"Answer my question - how much money have you put in?"

"Just twenty dollars at the first casino, and I left with fifty. And then I came here and put in twenty and then the machine was ringing and this motorcycle noise went off and it was all a bit confusing. I think I won some jackpot that has nothing to do with the actual logic of the machine."

"There's logic to the machine?"

"Well not to when you win, but there's logic to the statistical decision of how much to gamble and a psychological game and..."

"God I love you when you're tipsy and still use big words."

She giggled. "I love you when you're tipsy and you ravish my body."

"You love it when I'm sober and I ravish your body too. So you put just twenty and now there's $500 there? Babe, take it while it's still there."

Her eyes lit up. "We can go out for a really nice dinner and buy drinks that don't come from beer taps and pre-mixed cocktail machines."

"Yes, we can, and with Vegas prices have a lot left over."

Gabriella clapped her hands excitedly. "And maybe I can play more later and get more free drinks and win more money!"

"Or lose money," Troy pointed out. "Would you like to talk statistics about that?"

"No. I'll talk more about you ravishing me, though," she said cheekily.

Troy laughed. "Come on. Sounds as though we have a fancy dinner to get ready for!"

...

The next morning, Gabriella was startled awake at 5am with the need to purge the contents of her stomach, a process which repeated every half hour for the next four hours. Troy was patient – awaking the first time and keeping himself awake almost the whole time, barely dozing to ensure he'd be there to hold her hair back and rub her back comfortingly, to make her drink water even when she protested. He fed her Advil and when a whole hour passed between 9am and 10am without her needing to be sick, he made her drink Gatorade to rehydrate quicker.

"You're such a bad influence," she moaned, head pounding. "It's your fault I'm even in Las Vegas."

Troy rubbed her head, stroking his fingers through the strands of her hair and massaging her scalp.

"Go back to sleep. I'll wake you in an hour for more Advil and Gatorade," he said soothingly.

"It's all so hazy."

"Sleep. I'll tell you later."

"Stay with me?"

"I wouldn't dream of going anywhere."

* * *

They'd been back at school for a week after getting back from Nevada. Without a doubt, they both had a case of senior fever, even the studious Gabriella. The end was in sight – in a few short months, pending any sort of last minute academic catastrophe, Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton would both be college graduates. It was a surreal thought. So much had happened to them over the four years, but at the same time it felt like yesterday that Gabriella was on stage for the finale of _Senior Year: The Musical;_ with Troy announcing to the world that he would be matriculating at the University of California, Berkeley. They had been teenagers both in age, and in life. They were both still young, but four years had changed them both a lot – both as individuals, and as a couple.

They reunited at Berkeley, a frenzied series of passionate kisses right outside the BART station, a hurried bicycle ride to his building and two hours of ravishing one another – over and over.

They lay together under his sheet and a thin blanket, experiencing the afterwaves of bliss. Troy was spooning her, cocooning her body, his hand lazily circling in a stroking pattern on her hip.

"This last week has been harder than most," Gabriella said softly.

"Harder?" Troy repeated. "Your school work?"

"No no. Being apart from you," she admitted sheepishly. She nuzzled into him, as though trying to get even closer than being completely entangled with him. "After spending a whole week with you in Las Vegas, the whole week in the same bed, falling asleep with you, waking up with you... It makes this hard. I mean I'd skip the awful day of being hungover but... even that was sweet. I don't mind being doted over."

"How do you think we went? Spending the whole week together? You didn't get sick of me?" he teased.

She smiled. "Not once. You even made sure you closed the toilet!"

Troy chuckled. "My mother has me well trained. The woman is like a drill sergeant."

"And you looked after me."

"You look after me every day." He was serious, not a hint of mocking sappiness.

"We make a good team," she murmured, her hand reaching back to find his, fingers entwining.

"It could be like that every day, you know?" he prompted. He'd brought up the matter a couple of times – both times she'd changed the subject.

She sighed. "Troy, we've already talked about this. There's no point in speculating about whether it may or may not be an option, not until we both have our plans for next year settled."

"I know, I know. But... if they do work out how I think they're going to work out..."

"You insist upon speculating about the hypothetical, don't you?"

"Well, better to think about it now, so that when things are finalised, we know what we want to do and can get organised, get to work sorting out the details."

Gabriella sighed yet again – this time, not a sigh of annoyance, but a sigh of defeat. "The reason that I don't want to think about hypothetically whether I may or may not want to live with you next year is because I so badly _want_ it to work out and I will be really, really disappointed if it doesn't work out."

He shifted a little, moving back. He needed to be able to look at her properly – this statement was rather revolutionary coming from Gabriella's lips. She shuffled and rolled over onto her other side so she could face him. Their hands adjoined again, needing some sort of contact.

"You badly want it to work?" Troy repeated, somewhat incredulously.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"To be honest, I thought the reason that you didn't want to commit to the idea was because you weren't sure yet if you were ready for it."

She shook her head, squeezing his hand. "We're... you and I, we're _there_ aren't we? I mean... living together, that's a logical next step." She suddenly realised that she was leaping ahead with a huge assumption. "If... if you're on the same page as me, that is. About... moving forward."

He could hear the question in her tone, the sudden fear that maybe she'd said to much. It was a completely unnecessary fear. "I am! God, absolutely I am."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, that's good."

Troy leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "When I think about my life and what I'm doing in terms of, you know, a career and where that will lead... you're there. Every step of the way. Without any uncertainty at all. But you know, first, we need to live together for you to know if you can actually put up with me forever," Troy teased.

"Forever?" she questioned.

"Well, as long as we both shall live. Isn't that what they say?"

"Troy Bolton, are you proposing to me?" Gabriella asked incredulously.

He raised his eyebrows. "I can see that you would react really well if I was!"

She pushed him playfully. "Troy!"

He shrugged. He was fairly serious about his observation. "No, I'm not proposing. But... it'd be nice to hear that your reaction would be a little more on the positive side if I was!"

"I don't want to get married any time soon," Gabriella said seriously. "Getting married comes with... you know... joining assets and thinking about buying property and planning details of a joined future. I love you and I want to be with you, now and always, but I will be at grad school next year and that's my focus, not... not all of the fluff and nonsense that comes with getting married. If things work in our favour, then yes, I want to live with you. But... that's one step enough for now, don't you think?"

"I get that, I do. My plans don't exactly work with planning a wedding, either. But is there a rule that just because you get engaged, you have to get married soon after?"

"After people get married, things are different. You can try to convince me that we can be the people who prove that it doesn't have to change. But it does. Your unmarried friends see you differently and you start behaving differently and your sex life wanes..."

"That's ridiculous. And I'm not actually proposing, you do know that, right?"

"I know, I know."

"But the reason to move in together isn't because you're really excited to learn that I actually have very poor housekeeping skills... it's because... we're heading to that place?"

She paused, and answered, "One day. Yes."

"Gabriella Montez... one day... when we're more financially stable and our lives are more settled and you feel like you've drank enough daiquiris and you're ready to start having double dates with other married couples where we're home in bed at 10pm and have sex only three times a week... one day... will you marry me?"

"I can't believe you would ever agree to any agreement where we only have sex three times a week," she teased.

"You're right. I take that back."

"Are you going to make me quit work and stay at home with the kids?"

"No. Besides, let's face it, if you're going to be a lawyer and I'm going to be a teacher, you'll be earning more so maybe you should be making _me_ stay at home with the kids."

"We're talking about having children?"

"We are."

"You want all that? The house and the yard and the kids?"

"Don't tell Chad or Liam that I admitted it – or my mom for that matter – but yeah. One day, I do."

"And you want it with me?"

Troy did not hesitate for even a moment, before answering clearly, surely, simply, "Yes."

"Ask me the question again."

"Gabriella Montez... one day... will you marry me?"

She smiled. "One day... yes."

"I don't have a ring. One day, I will though," he laughed.

"So we are... engaged to be engaged?" she questioned, with a playful grin.

"That we are."

She pressed a kiss to his lips, soft and tender. "When we're there, and ready, I know you'll ask for real, and I will say yes."

"You promise you'll say yes?"

"I promise."

"And if at any point you're not in that space... if something changes and you don't think you'd say yes..."

"It won't."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

There was no ring to seal the deal. They didn't need the ring, not there, not then. One day there would be one, out of tradition and formality. But the future ahead was clear – and it was bright, and it was filled with love.


	5. One Day

**5. One Day**

Gabriella sat peering out the window of the plane. She loved the window seat. There was something majestic about staring out at fluffy clouds, looking down at the earth, all of the problems of the 'real world' below so far away. The grimiest of cities appeared stunning from above. Her favourite time of the flight was take off and landing, when you were at that height where you could make out individual buildings and cars driving along the highway. It was surreal, like you could reach out and touch them, like they were a model size set up in a museum and she was a giant. But they were real, and the plane was up so high. She was struggling to enjoy the view though - the deserts and sweeping views in the flight back to New Mexico had become familiar over the years. The college years had been filled with trips back home, she and Troy meeting up at either Oakland or the SFO International Airport and heading back home to visit their families, together. Only one time had they made the flight separately – Christmas of their junior year, when they'd spend a couple of months separated.

Gabriella was commencing her graduate school studies in law the next year. Troy was pretty sure he'd decided on his life path, and had made arrangements to complete the necessary student teaching and certification exams to become registered as a teacher in the state of California. He wasn't sure if his future was in California in the long term; however Gabriella was bound to the state for at least a few more years and so at least for the time being, it was going to be his home as well. He would've liked to have fast tracked his way to start teaching straight away, earning income, but with his basketball regime and the lack of an education major at Berkeley, it wasn't feasible.

In the months over summer, he'd had an opportunity arise to be a camp counsellor at a basketball camp that he and Chad had attended when he was in middle school, back in New Mexico. After a phone call to Mr. Fulton, he secured some casual work at Lava Springs for the rest of summer. Gabriella had a four week summer internship back in California and so, they'd regretfully decided that he would return to New Mexico and she would join him later, to spend the rest of their summer together and with their families before once again returning to California.

Gabriella's internship had gone well but she was very glad that it was finished – her heart had yearned for him. She was no stranger to flying and the routine that came with queuing to check-in, through security, getting onto the plane. She wasn't one to sit impatiently tapping her foot on the plane. Normally she was completely calm with the whole airport and flight process – but this flight wasn't normal.

She'd checked in online as early as possible and selected her window seat as close to the front of the plane as she could secure – wanting to be able to disembark the plane as quickly as possible, not wanting to prolong the period of time until she could be held in his arms again.

...

The trip to the airport had become a family outing. Camp had finished a few days earlier and Troy was back staying with his parents. Maria had downsized her car years earlier, and it was decided it was more practical to take Lucille's slightly larger car for the drive to Albuquerque Sunport to pick up Gabriella. With Jack at the wheel, Troy was playing backseat driver, urging his father to drive through orange lights and overtake slower cars.

"Troy, we've got plenty of time, relax," Maria commanded soothingly from beside him.

Troy exhaled, slumping back. "I know, I just... you know, what if they land early?"

"You looked online, the scheduled landing time hasn't changed," Lucille reminded him, secretly finding her son's urgency to be reunited with his girlfriend endearing.

"So, I was thinking dinner tonight," Jack announced. "Give Troy and Gabi the chance to tell us all about their plans for next year."

Troy had alluded to waiting for Gabriella to be there to sit down and talk properly with their families about their plans for next year. Since their plans revolved around each other, it made more sense than Troy doing all the talking without Gabriella there to contribute – and undoubtedly, to back him up, should there be any opposition.

"Sounds awesome," Troy said. "As long as we go somewhere with good food, I'm happy. Camp was great, but camp food sucks!"

"Hasn't Lucille been stuffing you with your favourite home cooked meals for the last few days?" Maria asked.

"Well... yes," Troy admitted.

"Tell me, how was camp? How old were the kids?" Maria asked.

The rest of the car ride was filled with Troy recalling the details of camp, telling some animated stories about some funny things the kids had said and done. When they arrived at the airport, his agitation returned and he jogged ahead of the parents to check out the arrivals boards. They were early, and according to the board, the arrival time was now delayed by fifteen minutes. He relayed this news to the parents when they arrived behind him a couple of minutes later.

"Well, expensive airport coffee it is," Lucille declared, and they headed toward the kiosk.

Troy didn't need coffee – he was already wired. She was so close, and yet so far.

"Do you want anything Troy? Decaf, perhaps, or hot cocoa?" Jack asked, commenting on his lack of ability to sit still. They all laughed, even Troy.

"Sorry," he apologised. "I'm just... anxious."

He distracted himself as best he could with his iPhone and Angry Birds, right up until when they moved to the arrivals area. The sudden buzzing of his phone in his hand shocking him. He lit up seeing an incoming text from Gabriella, read it, and then pouted.

"They've landed, but they've got them waiting on the runway," Troy said, aghast. "Something about the gate not being ready. Jeez."

He bounced around some more, and finally, they began to see a new stream of people coming from the secure area.

The moment he spotted her, he ran forward, not capable of waiting the 30 seconds it would take for her to traverse across the throng of people to where they were waiting to the side. He dodged between the people, exclaiming a "pardon me, ma'am!" at a woman he almost toppled over.

The Vera Bradley duffel she was carrying as her hand luggage dropped to the ground just in time for her to be swept up by his awaiting arms, her feet lifting from the ground as he lifted her up, causing her to squeal. He swung her around slightly before setting her down again, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss, blissfully ignorant toward the people that surrounded them.

"Worst month ever," he murmured into her tresses of dark hair. "Never again, okay?"

"Never again," she agreed.

A clearing throat from beside them indicated that Lucille, Jack and Maria had come over from the side to join them.

"Mami," Gabriella said, Troy reluctantly letting her go but accepting that she may want to greet her mother. He picked up the duffel she'd dropped, swinging it onto his shoulder as Gabriella and her mother hugged in greeting, and she then turned to Lucille to give her a hug.

"What do you have in here, bricks?" Troy asked, as Gabriella was now hugging her surrogate father.

"I wouldn't complain if I was you, since at least a third of my checked baggage is stuff that _you_ asked me to bring for you," Gabriella pointed out, pulling away from Jack.

"I told you to just check a third bag and I'd pay you back."

Gabriella shrugged. "I didn't need to bring much. I need an excuse to go shopping."

"Ah, this is why they return back to us. To eat our food and conveniently take us shopping and coerce us into buying things for them," Maria remarked.

"Damn, we were thinking you hadn't worked that out," Troy joked.

"Okay, should we head toward the baggage claim?" Jack suggested.

"I might just duck to the bathroom quickly," Gabriella said.

"I'll walk you, we'll meet you at baggage claim," Troy insisted, and before any protests could be lodged, he'd grabbed Gabriella's hand and dragged her away.

"It's killing me not telling them," he groaned. "They keep asking for details about my plans and I keep telling them they'll have to wait. It was okay when I was at camp but the last few days..."

"Soon."

"We're gonna go to dinner tonight so..."

She nodded. "Perfect."

He pulled her in closer to him, pressing his lips to hers softly. "God I missed you."

She breathed in his scent as they stood so close, wrapping her arms around him and allowing her hands to roam the familiar crevasses of his shoulders and back.

"Missed you too," she murmured in response, before deepening their kiss. A minute later, she reluctantly pulled away. "I actually need to pee. I wasn't just saying that to get away."

He laughed, and gestured to the bathroom. "Go. I'll be here."

The two minute separation was hard, but was nothing compared to the month they'd just overcome. The moment she returned to him, her hand joined with his and they headed back over to baggage claim, where it appeared the bags were only just starting to appear.

"I told Gabriella about dinner plans," Troy announced.

Gabriella nodded excitedly. "Can't wait, I am absolutely starving! I refuse to eat airport or airplane food, the prices are so ridiculous."

"We can probably head straight to eat then, if everyone is okay with that?" Lucille said, glancing around. There were no objections.

"Babe, did you bring the spotty suitcase?" Troy asked, craning his neck as the bags came around the nearby conveyer belt.

"Yep. And your navy one."

Troy revelled in his chivalrous gestures, retrieving the black suitcase with white spots, and then lighting up when he spotted the navy suitcase, bringing it back to their pile of belongings. Jack picked up the navy suitcase – chivalrous gestures evidently ran in the Bolton family.

"Is that everything?" Troy asked. He settled the duffel bag on top of the suitcase, able to pull both along and still have his hand free to hold hers.

"That's everything, let's go," Gabriella declared.

They tossed around a few restaurant ideas on the way to the car, and it was Jack's suggestion of Monte Carlo Steakhouse which everyone agreed on. With Gabriella's bags stowed securely in the trunk of the car, they headed to the restaurant where they were able to get seated pretty much straight away, due to the early hour.

Once they were all settled with drinks and had placed their meal orders, Troy squeezed Gabriella's leg under the table, and she looked at him, giving him the slightest of nods.

"Um... well... I guess you guys know we wanted to talk to you about our plans for next year," Troy began carefully.

"Yes. With all the secrecy you have me a little worried. You're not both planning to run off and join the circus or some weird commune or something, are you?" Lucille asked, only half joking.

Gabriella laughed. "Nothing quite that dramatic."

"If you're pregnant, I'll kill him," Maria said, giving Troy a murderous look. She then looked apologetically at Lucille. "Sorry, Lucy."

"Don't apologise to me, I'd get you the gun!"

Troy blinked. "Gee. Such supportive parents. I'll remind you of this conversation in five or ten years when we withhold access to your grandchildren."

Gabriella giggled and squeezed his hand comfortingly, before advising their parents firmly, "I am _not_ pregnant."

"You just referred to grandchildren in the future," Jack observed, sitting back with his arms folded and a coy smile on his lips.

Maria gasped. "You got married when you went to Las Vegas!"

"No!" Troy and Gabriella both answered simultaneously, and then Troy added, "Not yet, anyway."

"Not yet?" Lucille echoed.

Gabriella gave him a small nod, and Troy cleared his throat. "I guess the most important news... is that... well... I proposed to Gabriella."

The table was silent for a moment. "And?" Maria dared to ask.

* * *

_There were twelve hours left until they needed to head to the airport. Gabriella had been able to keep her undergraduate dorm for the first month of summer, her roommate moving out and Gabriella having the whole room to herself. The other side of the room was stuffed with a bunch of Troy's belongings. His parents had been up for graduation a week earlier, and had taken back a couple of suitcases of items, and he had two suitcases ready to check in at the Southwest counter. It was amazing how much he could accumulate over the years. They'd spent the last 12 hours entangled together, pausing only to munch on pizza they'd ordered and to nap intermittently. Gabriella was due to start her internship in two days, and Troy had a few more days up his sleeve in Albuquerque before needing to report to camp for his time as a camp counsellor. The separation was unavoidable, but nonetheless no less painful._

_Gabriella had been in the midst of a hazy nap, rousing to the sensation of Troy's fingers gently stroking through the dark tresses of her hair. She shifted slightly and he stilled the stroking, concerned he'd woken her._

"_Don't stop," she murmured, and he smiled, continuing with the stroking._

"_I love watching you sleep... in a non-creepy way."_

"_I love waking up to you."_

"_I can be your alarm for the next month... call you to wake you up in the morning."_

"_Mmm, sounds good."_

_They fell quiet. Gabriella shuffled to roll over in the small bed, their bodies immediately shifting, his arm holding her in close. Their noses almost touched on the pillow. _

"_I'm so happy that you're going to be in California next year," Gabriella murmured. "I know this month is going to be hard, but for a little while I was worried you'd go back to Albuquerque to do your teaching certification, or somewhere else."_

_Troy shook his head. "I followed you here once. What makes you think I'd be leaving when you're going to be here for at least the next few years?"_

"_I always hoped you would find a way to be around, but I couldn't help but worry."_

"_Stuck with me, remember?"_

"_Lucky me."_

_In a sudden flash, Troy knew. He knew that the moment was there. He wanted to be with her, forever, and he didn't need skywriting or rings hidden in chocolate cake or anything else that he'd considered. This woman was his world and the idea of not declaring it and spending the next month away from her was ludicrous. Troy was the kind of guy who said how he felt, especially when it came to Gabriella. _

"_Marry me," he murmured. _

_She smiled lazily. "Sure. One day."_

"_No I... seriously. Marry me. I... I have a ring somewhere... shit... why didn't I keep the ring somewhere handy?" he pondered, asking himself the question._

_Her eyes widened. "You have a ring?"_

"_Yeah. It's... crap, I put it away for safekeeping. Where did I put it? I had it in a box and then I moved it." Troy was staring over toward his pile of boxes, having lost all fixation on Gabriella who was staring at him in disbelief._

"_Troy... forget the ring," she interrupted him. Hearing her voice, his attention was diverted back. Her eyes were wide, but her gaze loving. She stroked his slightly stubbled chin. "Ask me again."_

_He cleared his throat. He had no speech prepared, something that he was acutely aware of as he attempted to figure out in that split second the best way to articulate in coherent words just how much he loved and cherished and adored her, and why the 'one day' they'd talked about was something that had plagued his mind since._

"_I love you more than anything. I know we talked about 'one day.' I'm not saying that I want to get married tomorrow or any time soon. But I know it's going to be you. And... so... Gabriella Montez... will you marry me?"_

_She didn't respond at first, and in that moment, Troy felt more terrified than he'd ever felt in his life – more terrified than when he first asked her out, first said I love you, and first brought up 'the future' combined. If she said no, then recovering from this moment would be almost impossible. If he'd gone too fast, rushed her, then things would be inevitably awkward. These thoughts swirled around in his brain so intensely that he almost didn't realise that her lips had curved into a smile._

* * *

"Well I said yes, of course!" Gabriella said with a roll of her eyes.

They erupted into gasps of congratulations and delight, tears in both Maria and Lucille's eyes as they all stood, exchanging hugs and kisses and a manly handshake-hug between Jack and Troy.

"Is there a ring? I see no ring," Lucille commented once they were all seated again, glancing at Gabriella's left hand as though she expected a ring to materialise.

Gabriella reached under the collar of her blouse, pulling up a long silver chain which held a white gold engagement ring at the end.

"I can finally wear it!" she exclaimed, unhooking the end of the chain. Troy took it from her, smiling as he was once again able to take the pleasure of sliding it into her finger and feeling the perfect fit. Both Maria and Lucille made aww-ing sounds, and Gabriella and Troy exchanged a sweet kiss.

"Why haven't you been wearing it?" Maria asked, taking Gabriella's hand to examine the ring.

"We wanted to wait to tell you together before we told anyone else, and Gabriella was afraid of the grapevine, even all the way from California," Troy explained.

"That is gorgeous," Lucille asked, also taking Gabriella's hand. "My son has good taste."

"I took photos of all of Gabriella's other jewellery and spent like, two hours with the sales consultant," Troy revealed with a chuckle.

"You couldn't have picked better if I was with you," Gabriella declared, holding her hand up to admire it. "It might've been money better spent elsewhere though..."

"We're seriously not going to argue about this again, are we?" Troy admonished.

"May I ask where you did get the money?" Lucille asked.

Troy exchanged a look with his father. "I may owe dad some money..."

"You knew?" Lucille said, gaping at Jack. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I knew he was planning to ask," Jack admitted. "I didn't know he'd already done it! I really thought he was gonna wait until they were both back here."

Lucille pouted. "And you didn't tell me?"

"We needed at least one person here at the table to be completely surprised," Jack chuckled.

"What do you mean at least one person?" Lucille asked, glancing at Maria.

"I knew that he was going to ask too," Maria confessed. "You raised your boy traditionally, after all, so he did ask me. But I also thought the plan was to wait until you were both back here."

"I was," Troy revealed. "But then I just couldn't wait. We were spending our last night together before I flew back here and the idea of sitting here on my own all summer thinking about the best way to propose was making me feel sick, so... I just asked."

"It was perfect," Gabriella cooed, recalling the spontaneous and passionate proposal.

"He just asked? No ring hidden in champagne or skywriting?" Lucille pouted slightly.

"Like I said, it was a bit spontaneous," Troy pointed out. "I had a month to figure out the perfect way to do it but then it just... suddenly it was there, in the moment."

Their waitress arrived with the starter they'd ordered for the table, and Jack was quick to put in a request for a bottle of champagne.

"I just found out that my son and his girlfriend are engaged," he boasted, pride in his voice.

The waitress smiled and gave her congratulations, quick to return with the bottle as requested and five glasses.

"Shall we toast?" Maria asked.

"To my fiancée," Troy declared, Gabriella's lips curving into a wide smile at his usage of the word.

"To love," Gabriella added.

"May you both have a long and happy life together, filled with love, good health and happiness," Jack declared, and everyone's glasses clinked together.

Once all settled again, Troy and Gabriella were able to move on with the rest of the details of their plans.

"Well, you all already know that Gabriella is attending law school at Stanford, and I've told you that I'm planning to commence my primary teaching certification and that I'd be staying in the Bay area to do it. What I haven't told you is that I actually have been accepted to do this certification through USC's online course – I only just got all the confirmations through. USC have one of the best programs, and this is going to allow me to live where I want to... and so, well, Gabriella and I are going to move in together this school year."

This was the part which Troy and Gabriella had both expected to have some negative reaction to – and their suspicions were on target.

"USC? Online school?" Lucille repeated, somewhat dubiously. "I thought you were enrolling in some sort of program where you'd be taught, you know, the proper way."

"Obviously you're doing this because you want to be near each other, which I more than understand. But..." Jack was beginning to talk, but Troy raised his palm.

"I just want to clarify, that it isn't because we want to be near each other. If that was the case then there's a number of ways I could've gone about it, commuting from San Francisco proper, enrolling with a private institution, just to name a couple. But this is really an awesome program."

"It is," Gabriella echoed. "I helped him research."

"I have no desire to move to southern California at the moment, I really like the Bay area. I also have a contact, through Gabriella and the tutoring work she's done, which will most likely have me all settled with a school to do my student teacher training at, in the Palo Alto area."

"Can you afford to move in together?" Maria asked. "Mija, I really don't want you to be forcing yourself to work while you're doing your studies. Becoming a lawyer isn't easy!"

"It's not going to be easy, but we can do it," Troy said enthusiastically. "Gabi's already put together a few different budgets."

"I'm being kept on with my job, they are happy to work with whatever my new schedule will be next school year. That will help some. Plus by Troy doing his studies online, it will give him a bit more flexibility to work a few more hours," Gabriella added. She then glanced around at the parents and asked, "Do you not approve of us moving in together since we're not married yet?"

All the adults laughed. "Please. I don't think I've come across a more married unmarried couple than the pair of you," Maria said. "We worry more about making it work financially."

"I can't believe you don't object to us getting engaged but you are questioning us living together," Troy observed curiously.

"If Gabriella was going straight into employment, it would be different," Maria said carefully. "Mija, you're investing in the long term – putting in the hard work now, and it will pay off, but you know very well that grad school isn't going to be easy. Living in a dorm means you don't have to worry about making sure the landlord got the rent and those sorts of trivial things."

"I don't think I would've lived on campus next year anyway, to be honest," Gabriella revealed. "Even before Troy first brought up us living together, I'd been thinking that I'd move off campus for grad school."

"We might have to share house with someone else, but I know we can make it work," Troy said confidently. "I don't see the point in delaying an inevitable future. Plus... well... to be honest, if you want to break down the financial benefits – there's not much point in us keeping separate places," Troy said, attempting to be tactful.

The meaning of this was understood without any further clarification.

"Will you have the space you both need to study?" Maria asked.

"Honestly I've always studied better at the library anyway," Gabriella responded truthfully. "And if I wanted to study at home, Troy never studies at a desk – he just sprawls his books on the bed."

"Perfect match. She gets a corner desk, I lounge on the bed, she moves my books if they're in her way to sleep..." Troy teased.

"Watch it. I can give this ring back," Gabriella warned playfully.

"You might want to after living with him," Jack joked.

"Hence the long engagement," Gabriella joked back.

"Hey!" Troy exclaimed, mockingly offended.

"Do you have any more objections to me living with my fiancée?" Gabriella asked, raising her eyebrows at her mother.

Maria hesitated, then responded, "No. Not now, anyway."

"You are planning a long engagement though? Do you have a timeframe?" Lucille asked.

"We haven't talked in detail – and mostly only over Skype, since the proposal was spontaneous," Gabriella pointed out. "But no time soon."

Troy nodded. "After Gabriella finishes grad school – a long time away, we know but..."

"We know what we want and what this is. No harm in making that official," Gabriella finished for him.

"That's a _really_ long time away! Are you planning some massive hoopla and giving me notice to start saving?" Maria asked dryly.

"Absolutely not," Gabriella shuddered at the idea of a massive wedding. "We talked a while ago about the future... our intent to get engaged one day. I really don't want to have to deal with planning a wedding or any of that while I'm still studying."

"How about you ladies stop interrogating them and we focus on celebrating, huh?" Jack suggested. Troy shot his father a grateful look. "I for one think that we've all done a pretty good job at raising kids who have good heads on their shoulders – Maria more so than me and Luce, but we did what we could with what we were given."

Everyone laughed, and the graciousness Troy was feeling toward his father became a roll of the eyes and a dirty glance. Jack merely grinned at his son and continued.

"Obviously they've talked about this, it isn't something that came spontaneously, and they're happy – so I couldn't be happier for the two of you."

Gabriella ducked her head graciously. "Thank you, Jack."

"Here here," Maria said firmly, and they all raised their glasses again in another spontaneous toast.

Lucille cleared her throat. "So... those grandchildren... five or ten years, huh?"

Troy coughed, giving Gabriella a sideways glance. "Let's run now, while we can."

Gabriella giggled. "Don't worry Lucy. It's in the plans... not for any time soon... but one day."

She squeezed Troy's hand, and he echoed after her. "One day."


	6. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

There was no doubt that law school had been hard – but 'hard' didn't even begin to describe the gruelling hours that came with Gabriella's first couple of years working as a lawyer. For the first time in her life, she was at the very bottom of the rung. It didn't matter what her IQ was or what her GPA had been. In a strange way, she loved it. She loved the challenge of proving herself, and she was prepared to put in the work to make sure she met the high standards they set for her.

It was common that she would get home at 7, 8, 9 and even 10pm; particularly if the firm was in the midst of a big case. Troy was eternally patient, more patient than she felt that she deserved. However, he knew that it wouldn't be forever. It was 8pm when she walked in one Friday night, but she'd left the apartment at least an hour earlier than usual that morning. One look at her and he could see just how ragged she was, and he knew that all the effort he'd gone to was well worth it.

"Hey babe," Troy said softly, taking her into his arms. She hugged him warmly. It was knowing that at the end of the day she'd come home to his loving arms that got her through the day.

"Mmm... arms of Troy... lips of Troy," she murmured, pressing her lips softly to his. "This is my favourite time of the week, when I know I get a whole two days of this."

He smiled. "Mine, too. And to kick off the celebration, I have a lasagne warming in the oven, garlic bread that just needs a few minutes to crisp, a bottle of wine..."

"You're so amazing," Gabriella sighed. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"I ask myself that question every day, but about you," Troy responded, nudging his nose against hers playfully. "Now... are you hungry? Do you want to eat soon?"

"I am famished." She looked him in the eye. "But not for the lasagne."

They'd been together for so many years that they knew one another inside out. He knew that look, he knew what it meant. He smiled as she pressed a soft kiss to his lips, then deepened the kiss and brought her hand down to squeeze his ass through his cream coloured trousers.

"Troy... will dinner be ruined if the oven goes down on low?" she murmured.

"If it is, we'll order pizza," he responded, the look he'd seen in her eye now mirrored in his.

"Good plan," she declared, and with that, she began to unbutton her blouse, slowly, carefully, revealing her bra covered breasts. Troy stared hungrily at his wife's breasts, as she was wearing one of the skimpiest, most revealing items of red lace lingerie which he'd seen. It was new – he'd remember if she'd worn it before. It wasn't the kind of item a man could forget.

"You've been wearing this all day?" he groaned at the imager.

She smiled teasingly. "Uh-huh. Wanna see the matching panties?"

"What was it you said a while ago about sex lives waning with marriage?" Troy questioned.

"I was stupid. Ignore everything I've ever said."

"Ignored. Now, I'd best investigate these panties."

...

Life was sometimes hard, even for Troy and Gabriella Bolton. However one thing was certain – that by each other's side, things were a little easier. They had each other, and they had love – it was an all-encompassing love, the kind of love which after ten years of being together still raged and sparked, with no sign of waning.

_I'm soaked in your love_

_Love was right in my path, in my grasp_

_Me and you belong_

_I wanna run, smash into you_

_I wanna run, smash into you_

_- _Beyonce

**~ fin**

* * *

_AN: Thanks for joining me on this brief but fun journey! This story started out with the imagery of their airport reunion and some romantic lyrical inspiration from one of my favourite songs, _Smash Into You_ by Beyonce. My best friends used this song for their wedding for the bridal march. __It kind of grew from there and became a lovely way for me to write a few scenes that I'd been inspired to write without the need to formulate a compl__ex plot._

_This story will serve as a place for any other 'moments' that fit into my version of post HSM3 canon that I am inspired to write randomly. I welcome your suggestions and ideas that fit into this timeline – I cannot promise that I'll write them but you never know, you just might suggest something that my muse likes! I will mark the story as 'complete' but I recommend keeping this story/me on your alert should I update sporadically. I already have a couple of outtakes that I wrote but ultimately cut from the story, so I will post them soon._

_Thanks again for all your lovely comments and support. xo_


	7. Outtakes: The Loan and The Blessing

**TITLE**: Smash Into You

**AN: **As I identified in my final author's note, I had an outtake up my sleeve. This is essentially two scenes that I had originally conceived falling in Chapter 5 as another flashback, but realised it wasn't working for pacing. They are in original form, so pretty unpolished, but I thought I would share nonetheless.

Also, shameless self plug, I've uploaded the first chapter of the final portion of my Someday series, entitled You and Me. If it was a little too intricate for you in the previous segments, I say give this third installment a try. My writing style has improved and stylistically, it is going to be a whole lot more straight forward than the former segments of the series.

* * *

**Smash Into You – Outtake – The Loan**

Troy was pacing around his dorm room. He was in the middle of study week, with his final exams for senior year of college just days away. And yet he found himself focused on something completely separate, which was overtaking his ability to take in any of the information.

He picked up his cell phone, dialling the number which he'd been so nervous to dial.

"_Troy!"_ his father's voice boomed in greeting. _"Wasn't expecting you to call."_

Troy cleared his throat, attempting to sound normal. "Yeah well, there was nothing on TV so I figured I'd give my old man a buzz."

Jack laughed. _"Good to know that I'm a second thought. Shouldn't you be studying?"_

"Just taking a break. Actually I uh... I was calling for a reason."

"_Yes?"_

"Is mama around?"

"_No she's at the store. Do you want us to call back when she's here? Is everything okay?"_

"No no, I... that's good. I just wanted to talk to you. I uh... it's a little awkward."

"_Just spit it out. Girl problems?"_

"No, that's not it. Um... I'm kinda wondering if I might be able to ask you a favour. I'm looking at this small loan that needs a guarantor."

"_Small loan? You haven't gotten into anything stupid, have you?"_

"No, nothing like that. Why do you assume I'm in trouble?"

"_My kid calls me sounding all suspicious, wanting his mother to be out to ask for money – what am I meant to think? How much money are you talking about, anyway?"_

"I'm not sure, to be honest, there's a few options... it'll depend how many carats, I suppose," Troy mused out loud.

"_Carrots? You buying a horse?"_

Troy sighed, exasperated. "No! Not carrots C-A-R-R-O-T-S. I meant C-A-R-A-T-S. I uh... well... I'm planning to propose to Gabriella."

The other end of the phone was silent.

"That's why I need cash. To buy a ring," Troy elaborated, unnecessarily.

There was still no response.

"Dad? You there?"

"_You're planning to propose?" _Jack's voice was incredulous.

"Yes."

"_Are you sure?"_

"Yes."

"_I know with your generation and all the crap that goes on in Hollywood, you might not get this, but you know that marriage is serious? It's actually a life commitment?"_

Troy rolled his eyes. He'd expected the inquisition, but hearing it nonetheless frustrated him. He understood that it was hard for his parents to truly get that he was an adult.

"Yes, dad. I know... you might think that we're young but we're graduating college soon, you know?"

Jack sighed. _"I know, I know. It's just... there's no rush, Troy. I get that you are committed to each other. You don't have to rush into marriage. You'll be working full time soon, so you'll have more money to enjoy life, maybe travel..."_

"Why does getting married automatically preclude us from doing all of those things? Is there some memo I missed that tells you that once you get married, you have to get a house and start planning a family?" Troy asked. "I don't think we would actually get married soon – we've talked about it already. But we're committed to each other, for life... and... we're ready to formalise that. At least, I am... I hope she is."

Jack was silent. He could hear the resolve in Troy's tone. The reality was that he'd seen a maturity in Troy developing over his college years, in particular over the last twelve months as he'd become focused on preparing for the future, shaping his college experience to lead to his chosen career path. And he'd also seen a maturity in Troy and Gabriella's relationship, the few times he'd seen them together. It wasn't that he had protests against Troy's decision – he was just wrapping his head around the fact that his kid was grown up, soon to graduate, and now talking about getting married.

"Do you... you do like Gabriella, right?" Troy asked hesitantly.

"_Yes! Troy, can't you let a few weeks of bad behaviour on my part in your junior year go?"_ Jack asked with a sigh.

"I just wanted to make sure! Because even if you didn't, it honestly wouldn't matter to me. She's it for me, so she's going to be around, forever."

"_I think you're a lucky man and if a girl as pretty and smart as Gabriella is stupid enough to agree to marry you, then you should make sure you never screw it up."_

"I'll ignore that you're insulting me since I actually agree. So where do we stand on the money thing?"

"_Don't get a loan – I'll let you borrow the money from me."_

Troy breathed a sigh of relief. "Awesome, thanks."

"_Get some prices – go look at your carats and whatever - and call me so we can discuss."_

"Will do. Now, I have to make an even harder phone call."

"_Even harder?"_

"I'm calling Maria to get her blessing."

Jack laughed, somewhat cruelly. _"Good luck with that."_

* * *

**Smash Into You – Outtake – The Blessing**

Troy could feel his heart beating as he listened to the ringing, waiting for Maria Montez to pick up the phone. This was the hardest phone call he'd ever had to make. In an ideal world he would've preferred to ask in person. However Troy was the kind of person who, once he got an idea in his head, he had to act quickly. With the nausea he was experiencing, he was contemplating hanging up and if she called him back, meekly advising that he'd pocked dialled her. Before he could put this plan into action, Maria answered.

"_Hello?"_ her tone was uncertain. It didn't surprise him. He could count on his hand the number of times that he'd called Maria.

"Hi, Maria. It's Troy. How are you?"

She ignored his polite question. "_Is everything okay? Is Gabriella okay?" _Her tone was panicked. Troy could see why she'd automatically make the assumption that something was wrong with Gabriella, given how unorthodox his calling was.

"She's fine! She's perfect..." Troy assured her, and then saw a quick segway into the topic he wanted to bring up before he last the nerve. "Actually that's why I'm calling."

"Uh... okay?"

Troy cleared his throat. "So uh... I uh... shit this is hard. Sorry for swearing. Um... Right. So Gabriella and I have been dating for over five years now."

"_Yes, I know..."_

"I love your daughter more than... you know... everything. The world, the sun, the stars... the sun is a star, I'm sure she'd correct me." Troy paused, realising he was rambling, and redirected. " I love her a lot. And... well... I intend to ask her to marry me." He paused again, listening for any hint of a reaction. There was silence. "So I am calling to ask for your... well, not your permission, but I guess your blessing."

He barely paused for a moment waiting for an answer, and then continued in a rush. "I know you're thinking that we are young, but I know what I want and I'm pretty sure that Gabriella is there as well. We've already talked about our future together, and discussed getting married, and if she says yes when I propose, then we wouldn't be getting married for a good few years. I know that I'm only going to be a teacher, which is hardly worthy of Gabriella's brilliance, but I promise that I will love her and support her and cherish her and..."

"_Troy,"_ Maria interrupted him. _"Yes."_

"Yes?" Troy repeated dumbly, almost as though having forgotten the initial question.

"_Yes, you have my blessing."_

Troy was blown away – he'd anticipated some push back, some questioning, some sort of resistance. He was so blown away that he didn't even realise straight away that there was sniffling at the other end of the phone.

"Maria? Are you crying?"

"_No."_ She was lying, and Troy could hear it.

"Have I upset you?"

Maria chuckled slightly. _"No, Troy, you haven't upset me. I'm happy!"_

"You are?"

"_You're starting to make me question whether I should've given my blessing so readily."_

"Should I hang up the phone while I'm ahead?"

"_That might be wise."_


End file.
